Pastor Cal Lord's Recent Sermons
Be True To The One You Love
Exodus 20:14 August 19, 2007
I have been a Detroit Tiger fan since the winter of 1971. I started collecting baseball cards that
year and fell in love with the logo. Now I know I was supposed to fall for the Red Sox or the
Yankees, but you got to admit that a roaring tiger does a lot more for your imagination than a pair
of socks or an inter-twined ny.
In 1972 the Tigers were having a dream season. Billy Martin was their manager and they had a
bunch of heroes from their 1968 championship on the roster. Future hall of famer Al Kaline, the
portly flame throwing lefty Mickey Lolich, perennial all stars Bill Freehan and Willie Horton, the
fiery Dick McAuliffe all made for some pretty exciting baseball. This team scraped it out and
made it to the play-offs where they battled Charlie O’Finley’s upstart, star laden Oakland A’s.
My honeymoon period with the Tigers was great. Every day I woke up and looked at the sports
page. I lined up my baseball cards and worshipped my heroes.
It has been over thirty five years and I am still married to the Tigers. Now I watch with MLB.tv
and check out the latest news on the web. I have media guides and yearbooks instead of baseball
cards and I can still tell you the stats of every player just like I could back when it all started in
1971.
Now that is a love story. On the other hand I can tell you stories of sports fans who only get
interested when their team is winning. I can tell you stories about sports fans who get exited
about whatever team is in first place. We all know people who only watch sports because
someone else is watching because they have no interest in it themselves.
Well I want to tell you something, the passion we have for sports comes from the same place
where passion for everything else in life is generated. I know people who love to work in the
garden. I know others who enjoy camping and love to be outdoors. Still others enjoy the beach
or boating or working around the house and have made these things their passion.
I ran into one of our former bowlers, Frank Chaluto, and he told me about his 1940 Plymouth 2
door coup. He spent a lot of time and money making it perfect. You’ll often find him at cruise
nights on weekends during the summer.
Now passion is a good thing. It is part of our DNA. We were created by God to focus on and
enjoy the simple pleasures of life. That brings me to the heart of my message today.
For the last six weeks we have been looking at the Ten Commandments in church and exploring
whether they are still relevant to us as we enter the twenty first century. Now last week we
tackled the commandment that talked about murder. If you were here, you will remember me
saying that the sixth commandment, “thou shalt not murder,” was often used as the yard stick to
measure whether we are a good Christian or not. It is almost silly, but we say “I never murdered
anyone so I’m ok.” Of course Bill Discordia will tell you from his year on the police force, that
he’s seen an awful lot of wickedness committed even when no one was killed.
Well this week we are looking briefly at the seventh commandment, “thou shalt not commit
adultery.” Of all the commandments, this one is the one that people want to ignore and move
quickly past.
I like the story told about the southern preacher who got up one morning to find that his bicycle
had been stolen. He was in a mood. He went to his deacons and he went on and on about how no
one had any decency any more. Finally one of the deacons suggested he preach a series of
sermons on the ten commandments.
So that next Sunday he began with all the fire and brimstone he could muster. He really ranted
and raved and preached his finest message. The same thing happened the following week. He
was on a roll. People were weeping and coming down the aisle confessing all their sins and
asking to be forgiven. He prayed with them and he told them not to sin again.
This went on for the next four weeks. The whole congregation seemed to be caught up in it and
there was a repentant feeling beginning to emerge that spread from the church to the whole
community. Then on the seventh week everything changed. The Pastor preached a very mild
sermon that lacked any emotion of punch. People left feeling they had been shortchanged. Was
something wrong with the preacher? Was he sick?
After the service the head deacon took the Pastor aside and asked if there was any trouble. The
preacher looked at the old deacon and said, “you remember what started all this? My bike was
missing and I was all upset. Well as I was getting ready to let them have it on the seventh
commandment, I remembered where I left my bike.”
A recent survey on peoples attitudes on the ten commandments revealed that most people agree
with them except for this commandment. They say the world has changed.
But you see this commandment isn’t about sex. We live in a world today where sexuality is
promoted and advertised as being free and easy. Just watch any television show and you will see
any number of entanglements. As a society we don’t expect people to remain faithful anymore.
Oh yes, we want our partner to be good, but we are never surprised when someone else
stumbles and falls. We have begun to look at it as commonplace and normal.
When God put this before the people, he wasn’t talking about sex. He was talking about a love
and loyalty that went way beyond sex. He was setting a high goal and calling us to rise to it. He
was calling us to find that perfect mate, that special person that we could share the rest of our
life with and to remain faithful to him or her.
You see true love is the greatest gift that God gives us. It is about much more than sex. It is
about sharing and caring and building something very special together.
Sexual intimacy is the bonus. It is icing on the cake. There is a difference between having sex
and making love. When you love someone and you give yourself to that person, joy is the
outcome. If you have ever seen two people who are still in love after fifty years, it is because
they care deeply about each other. They have invested their life in the other person and have
become, as the Bible says, one flesh.
For better, for worse… The Red Sox went 86 years between championships. I used to love the
Newhart Show. You remember that program? Bob Newhart was the owner of an old inn in New
England. His handy man, George, was a Red Sox fan. In one episode George came in and said he
had finally given up on the Red Sox. He was going to throw away all his hats and memorabilia
because every year they disappointed him. Throughout the whole show they kept coming back to
that. It was quite funny. But then at the end of the show George walks in with his Sox cap on.
Newhart does a double take and asks, “What happened?” And George replies, “I have followed
them my whole life and it just doesn’t seem right to give up on them right now. Because if this is
the year they win the Series, I will never forgive myself. They are my Red Sox!” That is loyalty.
When we look at this commandment, we see it is really a call to be true to the one you love.
Infidelity breaches a trust that is crucial to happiness. Once you break it, it is like a crack that
grows and begins to weaken the special bond between two people.
We know that this is true in other areas of life. If you don’t tend to your boat or your camper,
barnacles, mold and the weather will eventually cause them to rot. If you don’t work out in your
garden, the weeds will soon take over. If you don’t tend to your home, then clutter or disrepair
will follow.
The same is true in your marriage. You need to make it your first priority and give your partner
your best. You see God knows that if we are to be happy and find our greatest contentment in
life, it can only be found in our faithfulness and commitment to the one we love. And God wants
us to be blessed. That is the point of the ten commandments. They were given so that we might
know the greatest joy.
There is blessing in faithfulness. That is God’s promise. So choose it and you will be a winner
and be blessed. Amen.
Exodus 20:14 August 19, 2007
I have been a Detroit Tiger fan since the winter of 1971. I started collecting baseball cards that
year and fell in love with the logo. Now I know I was supposed to fall for the Red Sox or the
Yankees, but you got to admit that a roaring tiger does a lot more for your imagination than a pair
of socks or an inter-twined ny.
In 1972 the Tigers were having a dream season. Billy Martin was their manager and they had a
bunch of heroes from their 1968 championship on the roster. Future hall of famer Al Kaline, the
portly flame throwing lefty Mickey Lolich, perennial all stars Bill Freehan and Willie Horton, the
fiery Dick McAuliffe all made for some pretty exciting baseball. This team scraped it out and
made it to the play-offs where they battled Charlie O’Finley’s upstart, star laden Oakland A’s.
My honeymoon period with the Tigers was great. Every day I woke up and looked at the sports
page. I lined up my baseball cards and worshipped my heroes.
It has been over thirty five years and I am still married to the Tigers. Now I watch with MLB.tv
and check out the latest news on the web. I have media guides and yearbooks instead of baseball
cards and I can still tell you the stats of every player just like I could back when it all started in
1971.
Now that is a love story. On the other hand I can tell you stories of sports fans who only get
interested when their team is winning. I can tell you stories about sports fans who get exited
about whatever team is in first place. We all know people who only watch sports because
someone else is watching because they have no interest in it themselves.
Well I want to tell you something, the passion we have for sports comes from the same place
where passion for everything else in life is generated. I know people who love to work in the
garden. I know others who enjoy camping and love to be outdoors. Still others enjoy the beach
or boating or working around the house and have made these things their passion.
I ran into one of our former bowlers, Frank Chaluto, and he told me about his 1940 Plymouth 2
door coup. He spent a lot of time and money making it perfect. You’ll often find him at cruise
nights on weekends during the summer.
Now passion is a good thing. It is part of our DNA. We were created by God to focus on and
enjoy the simple pleasures of life. That brings me to the heart of my message today.
For the last six weeks we have been looking at the Ten Commandments in church and exploring
whether they are still relevant to us as we enter the twenty first century. Now last week we
tackled the commandment that talked about murder. If you were here, you will remember me
saying that the sixth commandment, “thou shalt not murder,” was often used as the yard stick to
measure whether we are a good Christian or not. It is almost silly, but we say “I never murdered
anyone so I’m ok.” Of course Bill Discordia will tell you from his year on the police force, that
he’s seen an awful lot of wickedness committed even when no one was killed.
Well this week we are looking briefly at the seventh commandment, “thou shalt not commit
adultery.” Of all the commandments, this one is the one that people want to ignore and move
quickly past.
I like the story told about the southern preacher who got up one morning to find that his bicycle
had been stolen. He was in a mood. He went to his deacons and he went on and on about how no
one had any decency any more. Finally one of the deacons suggested he preach a series of
sermons on the ten commandments.
So that next Sunday he began with all the fire and brimstone he could muster. He really ranted
and raved and preached his finest message. The same thing happened the following week. He
was on a roll. People were weeping and coming down the aisle confessing all their sins and
asking to be forgiven. He prayed with them and he told them not to sin again.
This went on for the next four weeks. The whole congregation seemed to be caught up in it and
there was a repentant feeling beginning to emerge that spread from the church to the whole
community. Then on the seventh week everything changed. The Pastor preached a very mild
sermon that lacked any emotion of punch. People left feeling they had been shortchanged. Was
something wrong with the preacher? Was he sick?
After the service the head deacon took the Pastor aside and asked if there was any trouble. The
preacher looked at the old deacon and said, “you remember what started all this? My bike was
missing and I was all upset. Well as I was getting ready to let them have it on the seventh
commandment, I remembered where I left my bike.”
A recent survey on peoples attitudes on the ten commandments revealed that most people agree
with them except for this commandment. They say the world has changed.
But you see this commandment isn’t about sex. We live in a world today where sexuality is
promoted and advertised as being free and easy. Just watch any television show and you will see
any number of entanglements. As a society we don’t expect people to remain faithful anymore.
Oh yes, we want our partner to be good, but we are never surprised when someone else
stumbles and falls. We have begun to look at it as commonplace and normal.
When God put this before the people, he wasn’t talking about sex. He was talking about a love
and loyalty that went way beyond sex. He was setting a high goal and calling us to rise to it. He
was calling us to find that perfect mate, that special person that we could share the rest of our
life with and to remain faithful to him or her.
You see true love is the greatest gift that God gives us. It is about much more than sex. It is
about sharing and caring and building something very special together.
Sexual intimacy is the bonus. It is icing on the cake. There is a difference between having sex
and making love. When you love someone and you give yourself to that person, joy is the
outcome. If you have ever seen two people who are still in love after fifty years, it is because
they care deeply about each other. They have invested their life in the other person and have
become, as the Bible says, one flesh.
For better, for worse… The Red Sox went 86 years between championships. I used to love the
Newhart Show. You remember that program? Bob Newhart was the owner of an old inn in New
England. His handy man, George, was a Red Sox fan. In one episode George came in and said he
had finally given up on the Red Sox. He was going to throw away all his hats and memorabilia
because every year they disappointed him. Throughout the whole show they kept coming back to
that. It was quite funny. But then at the end of the show George walks in with his Sox cap on.
Newhart does a double take and asks, “What happened?” And George replies, “I have followed
them my whole life and it just doesn’t seem right to give up on them right now. Because if this is
the year they win the Series, I will never forgive myself. They are my Red Sox!” That is loyalty.
When we look at this commandment, we see it is really a call to be true to the one you love.
Infidelity breaches a trust that is crucial to happiness. Once you break it, it is like a crack that
grows and begins to weaken the special bond between two people.
We know that this is true in other areas of life. If you don’t tend to your boat or your camper,
barnacles, mold and the weather will eventually cause them to rot. If you don’t work out in your
garden, the weeds will soon take over. If you don’t tend to your home, then clutter or disrepair
will follow.
The same is true in your marriage. You need to make it your first priority and give your partner
your best. You see God knows that if we are to be happy and find our greatest contentment in
life, it can only be found in our faithfulness and commitment to the one we love. And God wants
us to be blessed. That is the point of the ten commandments. They were given so that we might
know the greatest joy.
There is blessing in faithfulness. That is God’s promise. So choose it and you will be a winner
and be blessed. Amen.
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